Talented Friends....

There is a huge bonus to moving in a circle that contains lots of friends who love to craft, I am never short of a beautiful handmade card or two!!
The pretty pink one above is from Shirley, my friend in the South, Southampton that is!!!


This card is from another friend who turned 50 this year, the lovely SooJay, Great year for babies 1960!!

This one is from a little closer to home, made by my beautiful daughter Laura!!

I am really liking the cupcake card, from the one and only Ginger Claire!!

This one is a stunner, I only hinted about 5 million times to the incredibly talented 'Brodders' So thank you very much Jane for picking up on my subtle hints!!

Lastly I do have a 'real' friend (as opposed to an Internet one) who likes to craft and she made me this lovely card, it has all the elements needed by a good crafter, another lovely card.

Thank you girls!!

Beautiful Polution.

Every time we head to Newcastle we watch out for landmarks on our journey, one of the major landmarks are the chimneys at Pontefract and Goole. On the way back last week these chimney which are part of the national grid were in full production.

Because the sky was so blue and the air so crisp the white smoke was stunning against the sky. Over the last few years the A1M has been slightly rerouted so we don't pass quite as close to the chimneys as we did, but this gave me a better chance of getting a better photo.

All the photos were taken from a car moving at around 70 mph (I was in the passenger seat I hasten to add!!!) The smoke was churning out, Beth said they looked like cloud making machines.

Once we some distance away I looked back and I tend to agree with her, the only cloud in the sky does seem to be coming from the chimneys!!

Thank Goodness its Friday again, I don't know where the week has gone, but I am glad we have a couple of days off. I have been exceptionally busy at work and I have had some good results. I am gearing myself up for a fresh onslaught of 'stuff' to deal with over the coming months.

I seem to have had the longest Birthday celebration in the history of birthday celebrations, its not over yet, I am going out on Sunday for lunch with some friends and that should be it. My friends have been incredibly generous and to be quite honest I can't believe just how lucky I have been. As well as my new camera that my family have bought me, I have had new troll beads, a Tiffany lamp, £50 in John Lewis vouchers (wow!) £20 of Hobby craft vouchers, A fantastic bag of 'age inappropriate' things from my 'friends' - Sandra and Sue. My boss gave me flowers and wine, my other work colleagues clubbed together and bought me something I would never have thought they would, a hobby kiln!! I can't believe it, I am busy looking at precious metal clay and bead and glass making so that I can take full advantage of my new toy.

Newcastle at Night.

The night before the conference started we decided to take a trip into town to work out where we could park and where it would be good to collect me from in the afternoon. Of course I took my new camera and gave it a go. The shot above is looking out over the town, its just right of the Tyne bridge. The camera seems to cope very well with the dark conditions!

This is an 'arty' shot of part of the entrance and the Tyne. I am particularly pleased with this one!

This is looking back towards the entrance, I love all the vivid colours inside.

This is the opposite end of the building, I was impressed as there was an outside auditorium a place where they could put on shows, beautifully lit from below, with grassy tiered seating, which had snow on it !! Useful for the summer though.

Finally Beth by the back door, she was thrilled to find a huge pile of snow right near here, so I suspect it may have been a snowman in a previous life!!

I have some more shots that I will be uploading this week. Hope you all have a good week.

Happy Birthday to ME!!!!!

Today its my BIRTHDAY!! I have had a very nice day ! I am on conference in Newcastle at the fabulous Sage Centre.Its a beautiful building looks like a shiny slug on the side of the tyne!!

Tom and Beth took lot of time and decorated the hotel room with balloons, flowers and banners. The girls from work contacted the hotel and had a bottle of champers sent up!! Tonight we went for a Chinese banquet, it was fabulous!!

Tonight its started to snow hard, a long time since I have had snow this deep on my birth day, hope we can get home tomorrow!!!

I will be having a couple of birthdays this year as most of my cards and presents are still at home

Thank you to all my friends for their comments via text and face book!!

Happy Valentines Day!!!

While I realise that like most things these days Valentines celebrations are there to make money for card manufacturers, flower sellers and Chocolate makers, its nice to actually get a bunch of flowers occasionally!! Today I received a dozen red roses and a nice 'home made' card from my beloved and my family!! Thank You!

Beth was also the lucky recipient of a Valentines gift and a Valentines card (the origin of which she has no idea!!) In her Little bag of goodies she received a cuddly teddy bear and a grow your own prince which might one day come in useful!!!

We are off to the shops now to see if we can find some lights to finish off Beth's bedroom.

Thank Goodness for the Weekend.

This has been a long week, I seem to have been away at work and busy all week. Today I clocked up 73 miles, traveling to meetings. I am going to chill this weekend and do some crafting.
Last night I went out for dinner with my dear neighbour, I love to chat to her but despite living so close we do most of our chatting online! Last night we hit the local Chinese and had a lovely meal. It was great to chat about all sorts including planing a trip to Las Vegas next year to see Donny performing ! (actually Donny would like to see us but he can't take the time off to come to England so we are doing him a big favour!!)

There are so many of my friends celebrating 'big' birthdays this year, so many in fact that I have been making 30, 40 and 50 cards for some time now. I think when you hit one of those years you look at your life and think about what you need to change and what you can do to make those changes, we had quite a discussion about that last night and have decided that having a date to aim for would be a good thing, so watch out Las vegas!!!!

Please spare a thought for another of my friends, Jenn Rigg. Jenn turns 50 tomorrow but yesterday collapsed at home with a bleed in her brain, she has today had a major operation to try and sort the matter out, so for those of you who pray, please think of her and send her good get well wishes.

Surprise!!!!

Last night we went to the annual award ceremony for Welwyn Garden City Swimming Club. Beth is a member of their Life Saving Branch. She has been learning lifesaving for the past year or so and is really enjoying it. (Taking after her big brother!!)

Last week I received a call from the club to say that she had won an award for her age group and to check on the spelling of her name. We kept it a secret from her. The next problem was getting her to go to the award ceremony without her becoming suspicious. Luckily they held the presentation at Birchwood Leisure centre, after the awards they had an hour to play in the Fun Zone. (Beth is far too big to take part in one of their public sessions so this was a one time only chance!!)

The award for Lifesaving was right at the end of the main awards and Beth was getting restless, anxious to get into the Fun Zone, the look on her face when they read her name out was one of pure shock!! She couldn't believe it. (Even though they had mentioned that the same trophy had previously been won by her brother!) We are very proud of her.

So she now has a trophy for the next year to add to her trophy shelf!!

A 'technical' WOW!!!!

This month I have a 'special' birthday, one that will make me feel extremely old and over the hill. Luckily (I think) I will be away for the big day. I have to go to a UNISON conference in Gateshead. I am quite looking forward to it as I will be able to pop in and see a few relatives and I hope to be able to give my new camera a good work out.

Anyway back to the point of this post. I have been incredibly lucky to have been given a very very generous gift from my friend Karen who I work with. She insisted that I open it straight away as she is going away on holiday tomorrow and she wanted to make sure she could show me how to use it and download a few books for me. So I am now the proud owner of a Sony pocket Reader. I must admit that its something that I have always thought about but could never justify buying. Its been a bit of a learning curve as it operates differently to anything else I have used, but I have now sorted it out.

While looking for some free downloads to get me started, I stumbled across the local County Council run online Library, using my existing library card I was able to download three books for up to three weeks, no returning the books, they simply expire!

Now I just have to get used to the 'new' way of reading and I must be very careful not to nod off in bed and drop it!!!

Thank you Karen and Sony!!

Tidy, Tidy, Tidy!!

Today I tackled the long put off task of clearing up my crafting area. I love to do all sorts of craft, but in a very short space of time I find that 'stuff' grows on my table and very quickly I don't have enough space to make anything at all. I have been putting the job off for ages, but decided when I got up this morning to do it.
I called the hospital to make sure Laura was OK, they said she was good and her headache has now gone, which is great news.
I then pulled out all my 'stuff' and sorted through it. I was brutal and got rid of stuff that I thought I would not use. I made steady progress throughout the day, at 2pm I got ready to go and see Laura. When Beth and I arrived at the hospital we found a parking space and while walking into the hospital I slipped on some mud and landed heavily on my bum!! Luckily I have sufficient padding to prevent injury, but I was covered in mud, and I mean covered, I had mud on my trousers, knickers, socks, shoes, coat and top so I did a good job!! I was a little surprised at the unexpected trip, so decided to head back home and have a shower. Tom went back to visit with Beth.
Finally after a shower I completed my task of the day and I am now the proud owner of a beautifully clean and clear crafting space ready to be put into use the next spare minute I have!!

Another Fall of Snow.

We have woken this morning to another covering of snow, not too much but enough to let you know its there. The temperature is -2 so it won't shift until the sun warms it up. Other places are reporting up to a 4 inch covering, I am glad we don't have that!

Its been a hectic few days here, Laura was taken ill on Thursday and her GP sent her straight to the hospital. She had a bad headache that had lasted a couple of days plus every time she moved her back ached. She felt sick and shivery. She was admitted into hospital on Thursday afternoon which a diagnosis of meningitis, at that stage they had started the tests to see what type so we had to wait and see. Yesterday afternoon they confirmed that it was viral meningitis (phew) but they ordered a brain scan and some follow up tests to be absolutely certain. She is still in there while they control the pain with drugs. I have just checked and she has had a 'comfortable' night.

It looks like 2010 is going to see our family getting our moneys worth out of the National Health Service yet again. This year I am aiming at getting one whole month without any trips to the hospital for any reason, that's got off to a shaky start!!

Card for Di Hickmans Blog!

This week I have used all the scraps from the previous few weeks, more sweet nothings papers from Papermania, with mirror card from Papermill and a pink jewel from paperchase!


I really like the result ! Please check out all the others on Di Hickmans blog, the link is in the side bar.

The Weekend has Flown By.

Where did that weekend go??It seems to have been a busy one. We collected a new bed for Beth on Friday evening and spent the rest of the evening putting it together. She has completely gutted her room so there was plenty of room to build it. The new bed has a futon underneath and she was desperate to get it all in place so she could ask Meggie over for Saturday night. It all went according to plan and the sleepover took place. They were really good watched a movie, chatted ate tons of popcorn and generally did girly things.
I took the camera out for a few trips to try to get to know it. I took some shots of Beth blowing bubbles to check out the continuous shooting mode, again I am impressed the above shot was taken with only the light in the room, no flash.


We took the dog over the woods, took the camera again to see if I could get the settings to mimic depth of field, after a bit of a fiddle I worked it out and the holly above is taken on macro zooming in from a distance. The walk in the woods was a little fraught. On the way out we were fine, on the way back we got bogged down in the mud, every way we turned there was loads of mud, just to make things worse Hunny did a runner, she must have caught the scent of something exciting, so we were calling her and trying to find a path we could use. In the end we had to beat a path through some brambles, so this morning I have a leg that is covered in scrapes and battered by the bushes. All this walking is just not good for me!!!

Happiness Blog Award.

I would like to thank Raymonde for giving me this Blog award!! I have really made some fantastic new friends in 'blogland' its great to be able to take a peek into other peoples lives, you get to see another part of the world and life goes on there. For me I really enjoy the inspiration of all sorts out there, crafts, cooking, recycling and home. I love Blogging!!!

Here are the rules
1. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
2. List who gave the award to you and use a link to her blog (or hyperlink).
3. List 10 things that make you happy.
4. Pass the award on to other bloggers and visit their blog to let them know!
5. I am not such a stickler for rules if you are like me: do as you please with it!!!

So here is my Top Ten! (not necessarily in the right order!)

1. My Family (most of the time!!!)
2. My Camera
3. Going on holiday with friends.
4. Crafting of all types.
5. Supporting the underdog!
6. Crocs (as in shoes!!)
7. Florida
8. My bed when it is raining outside.
9.Snow
10. Halloween!!

I award this to the following people who inspire me ;-

1. Kim Marie - The frog of Faith Blog
2. Jen at Wagwaan?
3. Soo at No I won't shut up!!
4. Sue at I have no idea!
5. Glittery Katie at Glittery Katies Blog!

So I hope you will all join in and thank you ladies for inspiring me with alarming regularity!!!!

Card for Di Hickmans Blog!

This weeks card includes circles, Arggggghhhhh I don't have fun working with circles!! Anyway I have had a go and the results are not too bad!

I haven't stuck to it exactly, I used two circles and to make them stand out I chalked the edges with blue chalk ink. All the papers used are from Papermania, sweet Nothings range, so they all go together nicely. The paper dots are really useful shame I can't remember where I got them from!!!

Please take a look at Di's blog and see all the other versions.

The New Camera.

After what seems like an age, the new camera has arrived. I have been wanting it to arrive so that I can get my mitts on it and try it out! I was pleased to find it waiting when I got home tonight. It looks like a Fuji, its sounds like a Fuji but its far weightier than my last Fuji!
It has far more knobs and buttons and a manual zoom lens and it took me absolutely ages to work out how to get the neck strap on. (How sad is that!!)
I think although there is a load of news things to learn I will have fun trying it out.
Tonight by the time the battery had charged it was dark. I loaded the new card and was surprised to find that the card capacity was a whopping 1240 photos in the finest setting, 600 if I choose to shoot in Raw. I think even I am going to have to push it to use that many photos!!

I snapped off these piccies of Beth, it was dark using only the light in the room I think that these first shots have come out well. I didn't use a tripod so I am pleased with the sharpness.

There is so much that I have to play with, can't wait to get outside and give it a go!!

The Last Snowman.

At last the snow has moved on, there is not a speck left apart from the remnants of the snowman that the girls made in the back car park. I must say that although its pretty, for the first time in my life I was beginning to find it tedious. I think the problem is that we can just about cope with snow for a couple of days, any longer than that and we have to go back to work and operate 'normally'. Its then it starts to get difficult when you have to drive and get around. The only problem is that they are forecasting more snow country wide Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, so more of the same to follow.


I am hopeful that Beth will actually get a whole week at school!!
We have had a nice weekend, I have made a few cards, I seem to have quite a few friends who are due to hit some big birthdays in the next few months, so I have been practicing my 40 and 50 cards!! I have even dusted off my Craft Robo and used that again, I feel inspired to use it more !! I really must try and sort out my craft stuff, its taking over and I can't find anything!!

I am still waiting on the delivery of my camera, When I ordered it, it was in stock, I was just a little surprised to receive an email on Tuesday to say they were expecting more stock 'soon' . I contacted them back for a moan and the said sorry, it was sent out on Thursday so I am keeping my fingers crossed for a delivery tomorrow.

We are also considering buying an energy monitor, I think it would be good to see what eats up the electricity and be able to see it in real time. I am in the middle research!!

Dad is doing well, Mum and dad came around for lunch today which was lovely. I even tried out an experimental Strawberry pudding on them!! I now know that I need to add more liquid if I make it again, it was quite solid and rubbery!!!

Home Again.

Dad is home from hospital. He came home yesterday. He saw the consultant in the morning and he said that as he had not had any further pain there was unlikely to be a problem. He has had a bypass so it would be very unlikely to a problem with that. The consultant said that in his experience it was unlikely that Dad would have a recurrence. Dad was happy with that and eager to get home with changed medication.

We on the other hand were not too happy, we were worried that he had essentially come home with no idea what had happened and if it would happen again. My Brother and I decided to talk to the consultant as we were concerned, he said that dad simply didn't want to be there, they were relatively happy that he could go home and they couldn't prevent him from leaving.

So it all feels a bit strange at the moment, I am glad he is home but I wish we knew that he had been treated for the cause. At the end of the day it is his choice.

Card for Di Hickmans Blog!

This week Di sent us a template to work on, I found this one quite easy but had trouble deciding on 3 'words' for the greeting!!


I finally decided to use the last of my Papermania Sweet Nothings papers, along with a few embellishments that had been hanging around on my desk!
Pop over to Di's blog and check out all the other designers!

Its Nearly Gone.....

Today the temperature has finally crawled above zero for longer than an hour and the snow has started to leave, its still so pretty, I snapped this shot on the way home from work, I think its pretty good considering its taken on my IPhone!!!

I have been in to visit dad, he is OK, they don't seem to be able to make up their minds what to do with him, yesterday it was wait for paperwork from Papworth and arrange an angio gram. Today the consultant wants to try a treadmill test and if that's OK, he will be sent home and will have to wait for an out patient appointment for the angio. They have changed a fair few of his medicines and they have some other drugs up their sleeves so we will have to wait and see.

Tonight when I went in one of the men had gone for his angio, the other three including dad were all sitting together chatting, so that was nice!! I don't really know what I want the outcome to be tomorrow, on the one hand it would be good to have the angio and have it done with , on the other it would be good if they felt he was OK with medication. Its so difficult.

Another Day.

Today Dad has been seen by the Doctors, who have agreed that he needs to have an Angio gram to try and pin point the problem, they don't want to go ahead until they have the information about the bypass from Mr Ng at Papworth. It looks like he is going to be there for a little while. I think its better he stays and then he will be sorted. It has been all change in his bay its now all men and he said that they are all friendly so that helps the time pass.


I have finally decided to buy a new camera, I have considered it long and hard, I have always had Fuji cameras and I really like the way they feel and the quality of the photos I get from them. I have been researching a new camera since last year trying to decide if I want to make the jump to a DSLR. So after much comparison and soul searching I have decided to buy the new Fuji S200EXR. Its fairly similar to my present camera in looks, but it is described as being as close to a DSLR without actually being a DSLR!! Perfect. It has absolutely rave reviews on all the sites that sell and review cameras.I received a bonus at work last summer and I have kept that money safe in anticipation, I hope I have made the right decision!